The Brazilian Beat
Arona to Face Jackson! Wanderlei's Injury Under Control, Jungle Fight 2 Shaping up, MECA 11 Getting Interesting and Four Months Without Information on Priscila Belfort.

The Brazilian Beat:
      It is often said that time flies, and we seem to get this notion in endless ways in our personal lives. One day you're dreaming of that toy you just have to have, and the next thing you know, you're buying one for your own kid. However, for one family, time is going as slowly and painfully as possible, as we're approaching four months without any valid information on Priscila Belfort. It seems like yesterday that Vitor Belfort, Priscila's brother, fought Randy Couture for the UFC Light Heavyweight title without any information on his sister for around a month, and now we're already counting 120 days as hopes fade away and the suffering only increases for the family. Some ways of human nature go beyond our understanding, and as it's inevitable to think of the worst at this point and as nothing will ever justify something like that happening, we still hope for the best. At this very point the best for the family can come in many different ways, but as friends and members of the fighting community we all can only pray for the suffering to end, being it for Priscila or the family as we hope to never have to report this kind of news again and still somewhat dream or hope to report good news about this case.
      As time insists on moving on, and keep making us learn to also move on, the sport of MMA continues to bring news here in Brazil and here we are once again to report those! After the first round of the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix, the focus now turns to the next events to take place in the country and the next fights abroad for our main icons of the sport. With Wanderlei Silva defining his recovery strategy, fighters preparing for Korea, Arona set to face Jackson, a Brazilian qualifying to the Olympic Games in Wrestling for the first time in 12 years, MECA and Jungle Fight 2 coming up, there's plenty of news for you to read! So, enjoy your reading cause times truly fly and life never ceases to surprise us but no matter what FCF keeps the beat going all the way from Brazil!
  • Brazilian Top Team member, PRIDE veteran and Abu Dhabi champion Ricardo Arona is set to face Quinton "The Rampage" Jackson in PRIDE in a much awaited match up that was bound to happen at the Middleweight Grand Prix last year! Despite the rumors of the fight taking place at the PRIDE Bushido show in May, word has that the fight is a go for PRIDE's June 20th show, in a card that promises a lot. Arona has been training hard as he knows Jackson is a tough opponent for anyone, and the winner of this fight will keep himself in position for a future challenge at Wanderlei Silva's belt.

  • PRIDE middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva's recent knee injury has nothing to do with the serious ligament problem that forced Silva to have surgery on his knee in the 2002. According to the same doctor that did the successful surgery on "The Axe Murderer" before his fight against Hiromitsu Kanehara, the injury is minor and a normal training injury. The doctor recommended four weeks of treatment though, and some lighter training for a while. Silva trained lightly this week and at this point it seems likely that his fight against Yuki Kondo may be postponed to June, at the second round of the PRIDE Heavyweight GP. Nothing is set in stone however, as the Brazilian fighter is known for quick recoveries.

  • Silva's teammate Murilo Ninja Rua is back in Brazil after his loss to Sergei Kharitonov at the PRIDE Heavyweight GP and is dealing well with his first knockout defeat ever. Ninja told FCF he wanted to fight aggressively and never thought about anything else but to go for the stand up war during the fight, as this is what the public expects from a Chute Boxe fighter. Murilo also mentioned that he felt a bit of the extra power of the heavyweight division as well as Kharitonov's reach advantage, and he believes the Russian may give others a hard time during the competition. The young Brazilian went on to say that he felt a great deal of support from the Chute Boxe team, and now wants to train hard again, lose some extra pounds and likely fight under 205 lbs again.

  • It really seems that Wallid Ismail's Jungle Fight is back in great fashion this coming May 15th. Although we're less than two weeks from the show, the official card for Jungle Fight 2 hasn't been released yet but rumors are flying high. Reports have that Jorge Macaco Patino will be doing his Chute Boxe debut against Thomas Denny, while MECA veteran Daniel Acacio may be fighting against a yet to be named opponent as well. UFC veteran Vladimir Matyushenko is rumored to be fighting Jungle Fight veteran Leopoldo Montenegro, while Assuerio Silva may do his first outing after leaving Chute Boxe in a rematch against Fabiano Scherner from the Brazilian Top Team. Carlos Barreto, Ebenezer Braga and Evangelista Cyborg are also on the card that may be officially announced at any time. One thing is certain, the show is already being advertised LIVE at the Brazilia Pay Per View channel Premiere Combate.

  • The drama regarding Vitor Belfort's sister Priscila Belfort continues. This next weekend it'll be four months since Priscila disappeared and no valid information was found by the Brazilian Police ever since. Today Vitor Belfort, his family and some of the heads of the state of Rio de Janeiro Police gave a press conference where it was officially offered a reward of 5,000 Reias [Brazilian money valued at around US$1,650] for any solid information on Priscila Belfort's current whereabouts. This is the first time a reward is offered in Brazil for this type of case. On the press conference "The Phenom" spoke about how tough this situation is and that the family still has hopes, although at this point what's hurting them the most is the lack of any information so they can't finally end their suffering, even if it's for the worst. The Brazilian Police also said that during this 4 months they followed 45 different approaches of investigation and none led to any conclusive and trustful information. FCF still hopes for the best and if you somehow have any information please contact the Brazilian Police.

  • As FCF first reported a good while ago on the Brazilian Beat, is now known as a fact that former Chute Boxe fighter Anderson Silva will be facing UFC and PRIDE veteran Jeremy Horn at ULTRA FC, the new MMA promotion to take place in Korea in June. Anderson has been making no secret he is preparing for this fight. Regarding ULTRA FC, Rogerio Minotoro Nogueira, twin brother of Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, is also training hard for a likely fight against PRIDE veteran Alistair Overeem, in what looks to be a solid card. Other Brazilian Top Team fighters who will be in the show are Fabiano Capoane, Paulo Filho, Alex Paz, and Claudio Godoy. Rumors also have that a Chute Boxe fighter may also participate in ULTRA FC, with Mauricio Shogun being a possible name, but nothing is sure as Shogun is also rumored to take part in either the next PRIDE BUSHIDO or the June's PRIDE show.

  • One of the most traditional minor shows from the Brazilian northeast scene, Champion's Night will have its first edition out of the Northeast region. Champion Night 10 will take place in the state of Sao Paulo, at the city of Marilia [around 400 km far from the city of Sao Paulo] this next May 21st. The card will feature six MMA fights as well as 3 Muay Thai bouts. Most of the fighters will be newcomers and fighters craving for a chance in the sport, with participants from the local Carlson Gracie academy, as well as Jefferson Tank's, the winner of K-1 Brazil and a veteran of the IVC, academy.

  • Fight promoter Sergio Baterelli is already planning the second edition of K-1 Brazil. Baterelli, who promoted the first K-1 Brazil early in 2003, and then K-1 MMA Brazil later in the same year, is intending to run the show in the city of Sao Paulo in the early part of the second half of 2004. This time Sergio is willing to mix Muay Thai and MMA fights in the same show, being four MMA fights and four traditional K-1 fights, with two K-1 Max division fights and two heavyweight bouts. The show is likely to take place at Via Funchal, a traditional house of spectacles where a black belt Jiu-Jitsu challenge already took place also in 2003.

  • MMA fighter and Ruas Vale Tudo member Antoine Jaoude secured his spot at the 2004 Olympic Games! Jaoude, who's a veteran of Hook N' Shoot and K-1 MMA Brazil, was guaranteed a spot to compete in Wrestling in Athens, Greece, by technical criteria after failing to qualify for the Olympic games in both Atlanta '96 and Sydney ' 2000. The last time a Brazilian qualified for the Olympic games was in Barcelona '92 with current Ruas Vale Tudo trainer Beto Leitao. Antoine will now focus only in Wrestling and only look into doing MMA again after the Olympic games, although he announced his main focus will now always be Wrestling.

  • MECA Vale Tudo 11 continues in the works for next June 5th in the city of Teresopolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the same where MECA 9 was held. Besides the rumored matches, the main event is now set as KOTC and HEAT veteran Gustavo Ximu will face Chute Boxe stand out and Pancrase and K-1 veteran Nilson de Castro! This will be Ximu's first outing as a Gracie Barra Combat Team member and also his first fight since his controversial fight against Allan Goes at HEAT FC 2 last December, when Goes refused to continue the fight at around 7 minutes of the first round, giving Ximu the win. Nilson has been reported to be training hard and the main question will be if the former Ruas Vale Tudo fighter will opt to trade strikes with the Chute Boxe stylist or chose a safer path and take the fight to the ground. Either way it's going to be interesting.